Earn. Save. Give. All you can.

by Rev. Debra McKnight
July 31, 2016

You see the nature and extent of truly Christian prudence so far as it relates to the use of that great talent-money.  Gain all you can, without hurting either yourself or your neighbor, in soul or body, by applying hereto with unintermitted diligence, and with all the understanding which God has given you.  Save all you can, by and with cutting off every expense which serves only to indulge foolish desire, to gratify either the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of life.  Waste nothing, living or dying, on sin or folly, whether for yourself or your children.  And then, Give all you can, or in other words give all you have to God.  Do not stint yourself, to this or that proportion.  ‘Render unto God’, not a tenth, not a third, not half, but ‘all that is God’s be it more or less, by employing all on yourself, your household, the household of faith, and all mankind, in such a manner that you may give a good account of your stewardship when ye can be no longer stewards….Then why delay?  Why should we confer any longer with flesh and blood, or men of this world?  Our kingdom, our wisdom ‘is not of this world’.  Heathen custom is nothing to us.  We follow no men any farther than they are followers of Christ.
-John Wesley Sermons: The Use of Money

A few years ago, well like a few more than 10, I attended this amazing liberal Baptist church in Dallas.  You might be thinking, “Bless your heart, you must be confused.”  But I assure you this was not just my imagination.  It was a small new church start that met in an art gallery and attracted professors from Perkins, artists, musicians and just about everybody else.  One season they began to talk about money and they played this theme song where voices sing, “Money, Money, Money, Money!”  It was strange to hear that song in church, you see the song was associated with this new and popular reality television show and as I heard the song in church I could see luxury abound topped off with private helicopters and buildings with your name on it…if you have enough money of course.  The show, The Apprentice, featured this two teams that were made to do tests and projects, some silly, some impossible, some humiliating all with the hope of winning a job working with Donald Trump.  And at the end of the day no matter how hard you worked, you could still be fired.  I guess we will all have to wonder what happened to that guy in charge of it all.  Anyway, if you listen to the song, it names the power of money, the way we desire it, the way it can inspire good things and bad things, the way people can cheat their brother for it or sell their bodies to get it.

Money is serious.  It is a part of the fabric of our community, it is essential for our participation and it can blind us to wanting more for so many reasons.  We knew that before Donald Trump; he just helped clarify the choices before us.  Perhaps that is why Jesus preached on it so often and the Hebrew Prophets urged Israel to value God’s call over wealth, particularly when it came at the expense of others.  Talking about money is so important that it makes us uncomfortable, or it can.  We don’t think it is very polite to ask what some one else makes, we don’t think it is nice to ask how much something like a home or a car costs, we would sometimes like to down play how much of it we have or how much of it we really need.  It is not very nice, and we are in a place where Nebraska nice makes talking about money a challenge.  John Wesley had three rules for how we could relate to money, three rules that might allow even our nice sensibilities some room for talking about money.

First, Gain all you can or earn all you can.  This does not sound particularly revolutionary.  He urged the early Methodists to work hard without delay and to avoid being idle.  But he had some clear parameters on what work should look like.  Work should not forfeit your body or soul.  He named some working conditions that were dangerous, like those that work with toxic chemicals such as arsenic or melted lead.  He even named folks that sit and write for most of their day as people that need to get up and move in an act of self-care.  Working should not steal your wellbeing.  His second rule is that working should not steal your neighbors wellbeing.  Gain all you can, but don’t steel it from the people around you.  Wesley names those industries like distillation that produced a high percent per volume “fire water” which took a lot of a man’s paycheck and impacted a family.  He named pawn-brokers and even medical professionals that could stretch out the cure to make more money in the process.  Gain all you can, work hard but gain all you can in a way that gives life.

Wesley’s second rule was save all you can.  He is not talking about saving plans, 401K’s or anything else that might come to mind for us.  He is talking about stepping towards careful use of money.  He is talking about a deep mindfulness about what you really need to buy…or don’t need to buy.  He is talking about not waisting money on a bunch of stuff.  Guilded art, books, fine furniture, decadent meals, fine clothing and jewelry…etc that are not truly needed and push us on a cycle of wanting more things.  Personally, I have long found this a challenge.  It is so easy to be at Target and think oh that would be great to have.  It is easy to mindlessly consume and I have often been really good at it, and it is easy to see how much stuff we gain when we have to move and start packing all of it up.  I would like to say in recent years that I have slowed down and that it has been an act of faithfulness.  But I cannot.  I can say I have been more mindful because of my partnership with a frugal accountant, that poses the question of do we really need that? Usually, we do not.  I recently learned about a woman who took a break from buying and when she saw something she wanted, she went home and drew a picture instead.  This inspired her to pause and be mindful about her spending, her consumption and her most authentic needs.

As the early Methodists started gaining and saving, they became people with some means.  They were a movement largely of poor people and through their personal transformation and through their work together, sometimes giving or receiving micro-loans, sometimes teaching people to read, sometimes offering health care or shared meals, they moved up the socio-economic latter.  They did not mind Wesley’s comments about earn all you can or save all you can but when Wesley said give all you can…that turned into a challenge they did not appreciate.  Why should they give when they just started to gain?  Wesley asked people to give it all, and some people left the movement.  Wesley desired each of us to experience the power of generosity just like he asked people to take communion, read scripture, visit prisons or pray.  Giving is, I think, the most challenging spiritual practice.  It is a challenge to everything every other voice says we should do.  I remember thinking it was something my Dad did or people with lots of money….but not really something I could do.

The first gift I made was to an Interfaith Peace Chapel in Dallas.  It was 370 dollars.  While I was in Dallas, I was entering a new phase of life and as a newly single person who had just lost 46 pounds, I spent a fair amount of money on shoes and new outfits.  I am sure that 370 dollars was the most memorable about of money I spent during my time in graduate school.  I made the pledge in a worship service and then I got home and I thought, “Oh my what did I do.”  I followed through.  It opened my eyes to what giving means.  It challenged me to look at my credit card statements and my bank account and to read them from the outside in, what would they say about me?  I valued stuff over my faith community.  I valued stuff over my friends and family.  I began a slow process of making change, and that process has taught me to give more.  It has taught me that I have enough.  It has taught me that if I care about something I need to put my time and money into it.  It has taught me to share with other non-profits and campaigns and causes, and it has taught me to share my stuff and my space.  To share my car and my home when it mattered to someone else.

You see, I have learned that while giving matters to places like the Abbey, it is a practice that matters to me.  Perhaps this is why Wesley relentlessly challenged the Methodists, rich and poor alike, to give.  Perhaps he grieved that they had learned gain all you can and save all you can, but could not see or feel the real freedom of giving.  Wesley asked people to give, not just 10% or a third or half but all.  To really give all you can in all the ways you can.


Questions to consider:

What does earn all you can mean to you?  How does your work measure against Wesley’s expectations for work?

What does save all you can mean to you?  Do you find this a challenge?  Do you have ways of thinking through your purchases?

What does give all you can mean to you?  What kind of practice have you had with giving?  Do you give occasionally, regularly, pledge a percentage or income or give sacrificially? What would be the next step to try in your life?